Girls In Tech

Guest blogger:  Charlene Jaszewski

When she’s not writing on The Redhead Said about geek stuff , including social media, usability and behavioral economics, Charlene spends her time appeasing her appetite for all knowledge, and making homemade marshmallows dipped in chocolate.

She makes her living helping people make their websites easier to use, editing books so that their ideas are crystal clear, and making marketing materials sound less markety. Wanna see stuff she’s done? Click on over to charlenejaszewski.com.

Traditionally, society forces us to choose between working at home for ourselves, or working at an office for a company. If we work at a traditional 9 to 5 job, we get community and structure, but lose freedom and the ability to control our own lives. If we work for ourselves at home, we gain independent but suffer loneliness and bad habits from not being surrounded by a work community.

Coworking is a solution to this problem…coworking provides the office of a traditional job, but in a very unique way.

- I’m Outta Here: How Coworking is Making the Office Obsolete.

The world of work is changing. While many of us are already freelancing, with the current economic climate, more of us are taking the opportunity to start new businesses and work on our own terms. But where are we working? Most of us think of two options: a home office (or, a corner of the kitchen table), or working at Starbucks. But there are more options available that you might not be aware of that offer more than just a space to lay your laptop. In the right environment, coworking provides collaboration, cooperation and inspiration.

A Coworking Primer

Coworking can take several forms, from casual to formal:

*Random coworking: you and a friend arrange to work together at some location outside your houses.

*Casual coworking, where a group of people get together and work. Jelly is a great example of this. A “Jelly” happens when someone with wifi offers up their house or office on an appointed day, and a bunch of strangers show up and work together! Sounds crazy right? Jelly is sometimes known as the “gateway drug to coworking.”

*Community Coworking brings dedicated freelancers together in a common space. While Jellies are only offered sporadically, community coworking spaces are open regularly. Members pay a fee (either monthly or drop-in) and at minimum get a desk to work from, and various amenities, like conference room space, or fax and copier access. There are coworking spaces popping up all over the country, all with different identities.

New Work City

I have been a freelancer since my software days back in San Francisco. When I landed in New York last summer, I looked for opportunities to avoid working alone and stumbled upon the Manhattan Jelly. That’s where I met my good friend Tony Bacigalupo. Tony recently opened up Manhattan’s first “community coworking” space, New Work City in SoHo. Tony started doing coworking when he found himself going stir crazy doing his project management work from home. He started attending Manhattan Jellies, but since Jellies are only held twice a month, he wanted something more consistent. When he couldn’t find it, he built it himself.

New Work City is a fee-based community coworking space that can be open to its members 24/7. But it’s totally flexible: while some members keep regular office hours, some work the night shift, and some just drop in for a day. There is no contract to sign just to try it out, which is unique to New York.

The denizens of New Work City tend to skew towards the tech, from user interface designers, to Twitter application programmers. As the “mayor” of New Work city, Tony is a relentless but benevolent connector.  Tony says that many new projects and even companies have been birthed from random chatter between freelancers. “Once they get in and start talking to each other, they find ways to collaborate and work together.” Since people are able to connect more effectively when they have fun, New Work City has a vibrant “after hours” community, with Rock Band nights or even broadcast of TED talks. New Work City also sponsors other community projects, such as the Runway Project, which brings together seasoned freelancers to empower the “newly liberated” (i.e. laid off) to be successful independents.

Tony believes that “coworking is a part of a much larger shift in the way we work. The office as we know it is on its way out. For most Americans, working in white collar jobs in boring cubicles is no longer necessary. Technology is going to let us work in new and interesting ways.”  Tony and fellow coworkers Todd Sundsted and Andrew Jones recently wrote the first book on coworking, “I’m Outta Here: How Coworking Is Making the Office Obsolete.”

In Good Company: Empowering Women In The Coworking Community

In Good Company is a coworking/networking space in the Flatiron neighborhood of Manhattan geared to women entrepreneurs.

I chatted with Amy Abrams, one of the founders of In Good Company. Amy says that women join In Good Company to be around other women trying to build a business, who take themselves seriously. ”When you’re paying to be a member [of a coworking space], there’s accountability. There are certain expectations. You expect a professional atmosphere and environment. Also, you expect more from yourself.”

How is In Good Company different from other coworking spaces? “We are a COMMUNITY,” Amy says. “Literally every industry is represented here, from consulting, health, PR, writing, technology consultants. The age range is from 30s to 70s. We have people here in their first, second, even third careers. You might sit next to an interior designer one day and a CFO the next. Members really like the diversity.”

In Good Company offers more than just a workspace. On an ongoing basis, they offer workshops, networking events, even “biz bites” over lunches. It’s all geared to help women grow their business by learning from each other. I was really impressed by reading over the member bios on their website.

In Good Company offers flexible membership plans, with the benefit of small and large conference rooms in which you could host your own events. Member networking events and workshops are also included in certain memberships.

Resources

Jelly: http://www.workatjelly.com

New Work City: http://www.nwcny.com

In Good Company: http://www.ingoodcompanyworkplaces.com/